BENDING THE BOYNE: A novel of ancient Ireland (39 page)

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

ARD RI

chief, champion

BANJAXED

destroyed

COMHLA BREAC

speckled gate

CULCHIE

countryside-dwelling person, a rustic

CUMAR

female slave

CURRACH

hide boat with wood frame

CYMRU

Wales

DOWTH, Ir. DUIBADH

Dowth mound

EIRE

Ireland

EUSKALDUNAK

Basque people

FLAHOOL, Ir. FLAHULACH

profligate, generous

FULACHT(A) FIADH

cooking pit(s)

GEIS

ban, bad luck

KNOWTH, Ir. CNOGB

Knowth mound

LIFFEY

the river Liffey, “black-pooled”

LUNATE

one lunar month

MACC

horse, specifically a horse for riding; the term may predate or be unique to Celtic among the Indoeuropean language groups

MURIAS

one of the four mythical cities of the Tuatha de Danaan, “rich”

NAOMHOG

sleeker and larger hide boat than a currach

SHEELA NA GIG

carved image of a naked woman in a distinctive pose. Irish: Sheela na gCioch

SIDH(E)

“fairy mound(s)”; the passage mounds. Later, a term used for the fairies themselves

TEAMAIR Tara,

county Meath

TUATH(A)

tribe(s), unit, clan

UISCE

water

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to many persons for kind assistance during almost a decade of research and travels, including:

PAUL BARNES, TRANSLATOR, GIJON, ASTURIAS, SPAIN.

Re: M. de Blas Cortina article.

JUAN FERNANDEZ BUELGA, GEOLOGIST –
como mi hijo
– OVIEDO, ASTURIAS, SPAIN.

Re: the ancient mines of Asturias; Idol Pena Tu.

NEIL BURRIDGE, CRAFTSMAN OF BRONZE AGE TOOLS, CORNWALL, UK.

Manuscript review.

PETER CLARK, MIFA, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CANTERBURY ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST, CANTERBURY, UK.

Manuscript review.

ADAM GWILT, CURATOR, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES, CARDIFF, WALES.

Re: ancient Wales.

MARK FROST, SENIOR ASSISTANT CURATOR, DOVER MUSEUM, DOVER, UK.

Re: early boats.

BERNARD KAVANAGH, POTTER, KILKENNY, IRELAND,

for insight and encouragement.

VINNIE KINSELLA, EDITOR, PORTLAND, OREGON, USA,

for editing with uncommon valor and good humor.

The staff of the NATIONAL MUSEUM, DUBLIN, IRELAND.

WILLIAM O’BRIEN, PhD, DEPARTMENT HEAD, ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, CORK, IRELAND.

Manuscript review.

MARTIN RICHARDS, PhD, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, LEEDS, UK.

Re: archaeogenetics.

EDWARD RUTHERFURD, author,

for his early encouragement of this project.

S. MARK SWANSON, M.A., USA,

for his enthusiasm and technical research re: astronomy details, and the maps.

CLARE TUFFY, Director,
BRU NA BOINNE
VISITOR CENTER, IRELAND.

Re: Red Mountain.

And with special thanks to:

CYRIL LYNCH, GRAIGNAMANAGH, IRELAND,

for many journeys Home.

Also: GAEL JOUNEAUX, Allo Carnac Taxi, the Morbihan, BRITTANY, FRANCE. NOEL SMITH, BC Taxis, IRELAND.

And to the UNKNOWN DRIVER, DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN,

who graciously drove far into the mountains, then hiked up and up with the author to find the majestic site of Oianleku.

PERMISSIONS

1.
Lebor Gabála
, translated by R. A. Stewart Macalister, quoted with permission of the Irish Texts Society, Dublin, Ireland.

2.
Facing The Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples 8000 BC to 1500 A
D, Barry Cunliffe, 2001, at page 219, quoted with permission of Oxford University Press, Oxford UK.

3.
Metrical Dindshenchas
, translated by Edward Gwynn, 1903, at page 35; republished 1991, School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and quoted with permission of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, Ireland.

4. “The Wooing of Etaíne” translated by Osborn Bergin and R.I. Best, in
Ériu
, Vol. 12 (1938), pp. 137–196 at page 159, and quoted with permission of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, Ireland.

Author Biography

J
.S. Dunn
resided in Ireland during the past decade, and from there pursued a keen interest in early Bronze Age culture and marine trade along the Atlantic coasts of Spain, France, Wales, and Ireland. In 2006, the author attended the Dover Boat symposium regarding the earliest known Atlantic plank boat found at Dover, Kent, U.K. The research for BENDING THE BOYNE yielded many friends in diverse fields including archaeology, geology, and Bronze Age tool-making. The author is an attorney, and holds a master’s degree in psychology, and has been published in those fields.